Afghan civilian casualties 'hit record high'

UN says casualties are expected to exceed 10,000 by end of 2014, making it deadliest year for noncombatants since 2009.

20 Dec 2014 19:46 GMT

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have hit a record high this year, a UN report has said, highlighting worsening violence as US-led troops leave after more than a decade of fighting the Taliban.

Casualties jumped 19 percent by the end of November compared to the year before, with 3,188 civilians killed and 6,429 injured, the United Nation's Mission's for Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report published on Friday.

"Civilian casualties are particularly tragic and very prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror of the violence that ordinary Afghans face," said Nicholas Haysom, the top UN envoy in Afghanistan.

The report warned that civilian casualties were expected to exceed 10,000 by the end of the year, making it the deadliest year for noncombatants since the organisation began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009.

Compared to 2013, this year also saw a 33 percent rise in casualties among children and a 12 percent increase among women, according to the report.

While ground fighting between troops and rebel groups and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) remained leading causes of deaths and injuries, the Taliban were accountable for 75 percent of all civilian casualties, the report said.

As US-led NATO troops prepare to wrap up their 13-year combat mission, casualties among Afghan security forces have also increased, with more than 4,600 killed in the first 10 months of this year.

After NATO's combat operations end on December 31, a follow-up mission of about 12,500 US-led NATO troops will stay on in Afghanistan to train and support the local security forces now responsible for fighting the Taliban.